Masternodes are incredibly popular right now. There has been an explosion in the number of masternode projects, and a kind of nuclear arms race to attract new buyers with high ROI. Many of the new coins start out with 1000% ROI or higher. This means that you could get your initial investment back within 2 months (if the price holds).

But setting up a masternode often requires a bit of Linux know how. The most popular set up is called a “cold wallet” where the coins that are kept as collateral live in your desktop wallet (preferably encrypted). Then a Linux Virtual Private Server (VPS) is set up that connects to the collateral and provide 24/7 masternode status regardless of whether your local wallet is open or connected to the internet.

Most of the masternode coins provide instructions on how to set up your Linux VPS. If you’re reasonably good at following directions, AND the guide is set up well, then it’s not too hard to figure it out yourself. However, many of the newer coins have incredibly bad guides.

They skip steps.

There are spaces where there shouldn’t be, and no spaces where there should be.

Commands that belong on one line are split, and commands that should be two separate commands are joined together.

Sometimes commands are missing altogether.

Some of the projects have nifty install scripts, so all you have to do is download an install file and run it. Qbic is an example of this, however, the script doesn’t fully work, and will leave you with a broken installation.

That’s where I come in. I’ve installed more than 30 masternodes from more than a dozen different coins. My first client had been trying to set up his Goa masternode unsuccsesfully for 6 days. He was losing $225 a day!!!

Here are the services I provide:

In addition to setting up the Masternode VPS, I also walk you through the process of setting up your local wallet and troubleshooting any issues that come up.

All prices are quoted in USD and payable in LTC, ETH, or BTC at the current market rate.

Masternode (setup only)

You supply the VPS

Cost is $75 per coin

Discount of $25 per coin if ordering multiple at the same time.

One week of troubleshooting is included.

I will show you how to maintain the VPS and update the server.

Masternode hosting (setup and 1 year of hosting)

Setup costs are the same as above (same as above)

One year of VPS hosting and server updates is $140

Note, if you host multiple coins with me, you may be able to host 3-4 coins on the same VPS. The fee to host an additional coin on the same VPS is $60.

Subscriptions are renewable

Discount example 1: Masternode hosting for 2 coins on the same VPS

Setup costs $50 x 2 = 100

Hosting cost $140 + $60 = 200

Discount example 2: Masternode hosting for 3 coins on the same VPS

Setup costs $50 x 3 = 150

Hosting cost $140 + $60 + 60 = 260

ZenCash Super/Secure Nodes

Secure Nodes are quite a bit more involved than Masternodes both in set up and VPS requirements.

You supply the VPS

Cost is $100 per Secure Node

One week of troubleshooting is included.

I will show you how to maintain the VPS and update the server.

ZenCash Secure Node hosting (setup and 1 year of hosting)

Setup costs are the same as above (same as above)

SuperNode: One year of VPS hosting and server updates is $232

SecureNode: One year of VPS hosting and server updates is $180

Super/Secure Nodes cannot share a VPS with another coin.

Subscriptions are renewable

Frequently asked questions

What servers do you use?

I generally use OVH.com servers. Their VPS SSD 1 for masternodes and VPS SSD2 for secure nodes.

Will my coins be safe?

The coins will always remain in your local wallet. HOWEVER, I recommend that

As soon as you receive the coins that you make a back up of your wallet.

Store the back up in a safe place (from theft, fire, and water)

Encrypt your wallet and DON’T lose the password.

It’s far more likely that you lose your coins due to negligence or your computer crashing than to being hacked. Please, for the love of God, back up your wallet and don’t lose the password.

How long have you been doing this?

I set up my first mastenode coin for myself and on December 28, 2017 and set up my first client a few days later. I have been using Linux since 2003. I have been running Linux VPSes since 2011.

What happens if you decide to quit this business?

If I decide to stop providing this service,

All hosted clients will receive their full year’s subscription.

OVH allows transfer of a VPS to another account. A month before the expiration, I will help migrate all client VPS to their own accounts.

How do we get started?

If you haven’t filled out the sign up form yet, that’s a great place to start Once we’ve talked/chatted and both agree to the work to be done, then I’ll need

If you’re providing the VPS, I’ll need the IP address and root password.

What's involved on my (the client's) end?

You’ll need to

Buy the coins

Transfer them to your local wallet.

Create a new address and send the EXACT amount of collateral to the wallet.

Wait for at least one confirmation

Go to the Debug console in the wallet.

Type “masternode genkey”

Type “masternode outputs”

Copy all of the codes generated and save them in a text file.

I will walk you though what to do with them.

What's the difference between a Zencash Securenode and a Masternode?

Masternodes mostly speed up network transactions and sometimes vote on the direction of the project. Secure nodes receive daily challenges where they receive and send a shielded (private) transaction each day. This provides the network with thousands of private transactions making it much harder to track. A secure node needs 6 GB of memory (usually 4 GB of physical memory). Most masternodes only need 1 GB of memory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyq0AGGlPoU&t=30s

What is the best way to get in touch with you?

Telegram and Discord are probably the best ways to get in touch with me. My username on Telegram is @patrokov. I have a Discord Server for the Masternode Service. My username is patrokov#7056. If you can’t start a DM with me in Discord, it’s most likely because we are not on the same servers. I can also Skype (same username) but Skype doesn’t alert me when I get a message, so it’s better to use a different method unless we pre-arrange a meeting or chat. E-mail also works. You can fill out the form below, and I will get in touch with you.

When do you do this work?

I mostly do the work in the evenings after work and on weekends.

I am now back from vacation and will be taking new clients again.

Masternode/SuperNode/SecureNode Setup Service Request

Masternode/SuperNode/SecureNode Setup Service Request

If you are human, leave this field blank.

Name

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E-mail

Username or invite link from your preferred chat service.

Indicate your current level of interest
*

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Please stop talking. Just take my money.

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Are you interested in masternode setup or ZenCash (Supernode/Securenode)?

Masternodes

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(one per line if you have multiple, if you want more masternode of the same coin, then put x2,x3,x4 etc. after the name of the coin)

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Do you already have your collateral tx ID and masternode private key ready?

Now that I’ve helped several people with their masternodes, I’ve noticed that many people are just copying and pasting the commands from an online setup guide. Unfortunately, a lot of the guides gloss over important things like server security. The video below shows how to secure a Linux VPS. All of the commands in the video are found below it, so you can just copy and paste them…ironic isn’t it?

Now test your settings
Open a new session and try to log in with root@ip.address
It shouldn’t let you
Now try to login as your username without using the key, and it shouldn’t let you.

You’re half way there, livin on a prayer!!

Now let’s install a simple firewall
We’ll lock down all the ports except the one needed by SSH and your coin (this will change depending on your coin).
We’ll limit the number of SSH connections to help prevent brute force attacks

So you’re convinced. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are the wave of the future (or at least you hope to make a fortune trading the swings), but the new tax law that you’re supposed to calculate your gain and pay taxes on every trade is cramping your style. Well, you could avoid paying taxes if you owned and traded the cryptocurrency inside of a tax deferred retirement account (or better yet, a Roth IRA so you never pay taxes on the gains).

But doing so is a bit complicated. For years I had heard of “self directed” IRAs that allowed you to invest in real estate (but my IRA didn’t have enough money to do that). Later on, I learned about how you could invest in gold through an IRA or the IRA could even start its own LLC that you manage (also known as a checkbook IRA). But I never had a reason to want to do so.

Enter Cryptocurrency. No matter whether you’re HODLing, trading, or running masternodes, the potential upside is enormous, and you don’t need a huge amount of money to get started. Now there’s a reason to put that arcane knowledge to use. What follows below are the things I’ve learned by doing this process myself.

Overview of the IRA/LLC process

First you’ll need a self directed IRA with a trust company that allows IRA/LLCs also known as checkbook IRAs. So find one with minimal fees that you trust, and open an account.

Find an attorney who specializes in this sort of thing to create your LLC.

Once your LLC is created you need

Request a bank check sent to your house from the IRA in your LLCs name

Open a bank account

Open a Coinbase/Gdax account in your business’ name (and trading accounts on exchanges like Binance, and Bittrex, and Kucoin (affiliate links on Coinbase and Binance)).

Wire the money from the bank account to Gdax.

Trade your heart out.

Step 1: The first step is to open a self directed IRA

You’ll need to open a self directed IRA with a custodian that allows IRA/LLCs. My personal preferences are:

Custodian has an online sign up (I HATE paper forms)

Low fees

Allows you to pay maintenance fees with a credit card

Due to anti-kickback laws, no one you deal with can “recommend” a service to you. So if you already selected an attorney, they’ can’t recommend an IRA custodian, and vice versa. But perhaps if you worded your question in the form of “which companies are the easiest to work with?” they might be able to answer.

Based on these two criteria, I selected Kingdom Trust, but in their 2018 updated fee schedule it looks like they eliminated the IRA/LLC option, and the regular self directed IRA option has a percent of portfolio based fee, which simply doesn’t work for me.

They’re pretty much all going to charge an annual (or more often) maintenance fee, check fee, wire fee. They often charge per “asset” within the IRA, but the only asset should be the LLC you’re going to form.

Action steps:

Fill out the Application for new account form

You need to fund the account in some way. Ideally a large chunk, like say $5000 or more, but whatever you can do that they will accept will work.

Step 2: Have an attorney form your LLC

You can begin this step while you’re waiting for the IRA to fund. I consulted with two attorneys (Mat Sorensen and Nick Spradlin). I ended up going with Nick Spradlin mainly for the lower price and because he has offices in Florida. This step took about two weeks.

Note: Technically your IRA owns the LLC, so the IRA should pay the attorney, not you.

You WILL need a Tax Id number for your LLC, so it’s easier to pay the attorney to file it for you than for you to do it yourself (IMO). It’s also easiest to name your LLC: FirstName LastName IRA LLC. That way when you go to the bank, they immediately see the relationship. You can also pay for a DBA (doing business as fictitious name) but I didn’t opt to. I highly recommend using an “e-book” rather than a traditional printed binder.

You can also pay for the attorney to be your registered agent within the state of registration (which should be your state of residence). This makes a lot of sense when you’re investing in real estate and there may be legal issues with subcontractors or tenants, but I’m not sure it’s such a great deal if you’re just buying Bitcoin.

A couple weeks later you’ll get an e-mail with several things.

Articles of Incorporation where the attorney filed your LLC with the State

An LLC seal

An LLC membership certificate

Your Tax ID number

And your LLC Operating Agreement, Minutes, and Ledger

Step 2b: What do you do with all this LLC stuff?

First you need apply your company seal to the Membership Certificate. There are instructions on how to do it using Adobe Acrobat.

Then print out the Certificate and sign it.

Print the signature pages from the Operating Agreement and Minutes and sign them. Scan everything back together and assemble the documents into one big file. (Or print them all and then just scan them together.)

Send them all to your IRA Custodian (see Step 3 below)

Step 3: Tell your IRA Custodian to invest in your IRA/LLC

This will likely involve several forms. For the Custodian that chose, I had to fill out an LLC agreement form where I told them the name of my LLC and provided all of the documents above, and then an Investment Authorization “Kit” (series of forms) authorizing the IRA Custodian to “invest” (send money) to the LLC. At this time, the safest thing to do is request a check made out to your LLC’s name sent to your address.

The reason for this is that you’ll need to have some money to start a bank account. None of the local banks I talked to would let me start the account with a zero balance and then wire the money in. The alternative would be to deposit the minimum with your own money, wire the funds from the IRA, and then withdraw the minimum deposit once the wire goes through, but the IRS might look down on that, so better safe than sorry.

Some tips:

Bank Secrecy Act (Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act)

As part of opening the bank account, they’ll ask you a series of questions required by the Secrecy in Banking act. One of them includes whether you are creating or exchanging virtual or digital currency. To the best of my reading, the answer is no. (If you answer yes, they won’t let you open the account by the way.) DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV, nor did I sleep in a Holiday Inn last night. This is not advice nor a legal opinion. The best that I can see is that if you’re in the business of exchanging (like Bittrex or Coinbase) or you’re going to be creating a cryptocurrency (like Ripple) then you probably should say yes. But if you’re just buying, holding, and selling cryptocurrency, you should be okay saying no.

Bank Account: LLC Owner

Now this one is tricksey. Technically the owner of the LLC is something like “IRA Company Name Custodian FBO Your Name IRA Account XXXXXXX.” At first I tried opening an account with CapitalOne Spark Business because there’s no minimum balance, and they don’t charge your for the first 5 outgoing wires. (Who wants to be fee-ed to death?) But their online form fritzed out when I tried to enter the LLC owner. It also wanted a birthday for the owner who didn’t have a birthday, because the owner is an entity, not a person. When I called them the person I spoke to on the phone was about as helpful as the online form.

Next I tried Wells Fargo, and their online app let me complete it and choose that the owner was an entity, and that I was a “key personnel with executive control.” Then it gave me some forms I had to sign and turn into a local branch.

The next day I took the forms to a local branch, and… the form was malformed, and they couldn’t find my app in the computer. The bank rep called corporate, and turns out I had to re-apply through his system. When it came to the “owner” question, he said, “For our purposes, you’re the owner; I know it’s not technically correct, but you sign the checks, and the EIN flows through to your SSN.” (or something like that)

Now, sign the forms; give them copies of the LLC documents (same as in the step above); give them the endorsed check you requested above…

Congratulations. You are now the proud owner of a fully funded IRA LLC. Don’t forget to create an online account. You’ll need it in the next step.

Step 4: Get a Coinbase account

Set up a Coinbase account. This part is a bit confusing. If you click on support and ask Coinbase about Business accounts, the only guidance that you can get is “open a Gdax account” for businesses and trading professionals. However, when you go to Gdax, it just has you “create a Coinbase account.” If you click on Contact Support, it says that what you’re asking for isn’t a support priority and won’t let you continue.

So you:

Put in your name, and the e-mail address of your business, and a password. (Note: there is never any place to actually put in your business name.)

Confirm your account with the e-mail they sent you.

Set up 2 factor authentication

Upload your Driver’s License (it took about five minutes for them to verify)

It will ask you to add an account, but if you try it will say that it’s already linked, so just say continue.

You’re DONE.

Go to you’re USD wallet and click the down arrow (deposit)

Click on the wire instructions and call your bank to set up a wire. If you’re requesting early in the day, the funds should be in Gdax the same day. If you’re investing more than $2000, it’s probably cheaper to wire the funds than to use the ACH function in Coinbase. Also, your wire has a good chance of getting there the same day as opposed to doing it through Coinbase where you have to wait 5 days before your funds clear.
Note: (It seem that many banks will let you request a wire for up to $10,000 online or in their mobile app. If you want higher than that, then they’ll make you call or visit a branch bank. (Maybe if you bring your laptop to the bank, you could do this step immediately following opening the account and then set up your wire before you leave!)

Update: I finally found where you tell Gdax that you’re a company. It’s in the Withdraw section when you ask them to increase your daily withdrawal limit.

While you’re waiting for your wire to go through, don’t forget to sign up for accounts at the exchanges you’re planning on trading on with your IRA’s e-mail address.

Final words

Be very careful NOT to engage in any prohibited transactions. If you’re audited (the IRS says that it’s targeting IRA/LLCs), your IRA could lose IRA status forever.

The IRA will need to pay an annual registration fee with the state you incorporated in, so save some money for that.

You’ll also need to reserve some money for the IRA account fees, and Bank account fees (or maintain the minimum balance to avoid the fees).

You’ll need to provide an annual valuation of your LLC to the custodian that is prepared by a qualified third party (i.e., NOT you or a direct relative).

Overall the process is not that hard, but if you don’t know what to expect or what the right words are, it’s easy to feel stupid and lost.

Dealing with Nick Spradlin was very easy and quick despite my not paying for the expedited service. I’m not sure if he works in all states, but I know he advertises in Florida and Texas. (If I had paid for the expedited service, I might have been able to catch this recent dip and pick up some Litecoin for $150 and Ether for $950.)

Okay, you’ve decided to take the big plunge and invest (or speculate) in the wild world of cryptocurrencies. The potential rewards are overwhelming but so are the choices. In this article, I’ll be covering the major strategies (as I see them) and what is involved. In part 2, I’ll be going over some specifics of how to implement some of the strategies below. Note: Mining is not included in this article as I touched on it in my Beginner’s Guide to Cryptocurrency.

Motivation and Goals

The first question to answer is what is your motivation and what are your goals? Are you just looking to earn a little extra or are you trying to save up to put your kids through school? Your individual situation will influence which strategy might be best to take.

The FOMO is real

In case you’re not up on your internet lingo, FOMO stands for Fear of Missing Out. Although FOMO might have its place (for example motivating you to learn about this stuff in the first place), if you make your investment and speculations based on FOMO, then you’re going to sell low and buy high and lose your shirt. Sometimes it’s better to just hold and wait for another opportunity.

Satoshis or Dollars or Something else?

Is your goal to accumulate satoshis (1 millionth of a bitcoin) or dollars. Trying to do both at the same time may lead to compromises that result in neither. Satoshi gatherers usually have a longer term view thinking that eventually cryptocurrencies will become a viable (if not dominant) way of buying goods and services. Dollar accumulators want the value of their investment to be worth more dollars even if it costs them satoshi value in the short term. Decide on a goal up front.

Strategy 1: The HODL

This comes from a famous misspelled forum post from back in 2013 that reads in part, “I AM HODLING. I type d that tyitle twice because I knew it was wrong the first time. Still wrong. w/e. BTC crashing WHY AM I HOLDING? I’LL TELL YOU WHY. It’s because I’m a bad trader and I KNOW I’M A BAD TRADER.”

The strategy is pretty simple. It’s basically Jeremy Siegel Stocks for the Long Run applied to cryptocurrencies. Choose a selection of crytpocurrencies that you think may have a future, and HODL them for all you’re worth through thick and thin. You probably want to hold some mainstream (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, etc.) as well as some newer, cheaper, up-and-coming alt-coins.

This strategy probably the best one for people with limited time and tolerance for anxiety. Once you buy, don’t look at the price on a weekly, daily, hourly basis. Just check once a year. This strategy is also best for a longer time horizon.

Strategy 2: Sleep at night speculation

This is similar to the HODL strategy except that whenever a coin doubles whatever you put into it, you withdraw half and put it into another potential up and coming alt-coin. As an example, let’s say you buy 100,000 PurplePill coin for the equivalent of $0.001 (total of $100). The price of PurplePill goes to $0.002, now your PurplePill is worth $200. Sell $100 of it and use it to buy another new alt-coin.

If the PurplePill becomes worthless, you still have $100 in the new alt-coin. If the price of PurplePill goes up to $0.1, then your initial $100 is now worth $5000.

But if you hadn’t sold, then it would be worth $10,000!!! This strategy sucks!!!

The FOMO is real. Yes, you halved your potential profit, but you also preserved your original capital, and own a new alt-coin that might do just as well.

This has a couple of benefits over the HODL.

Over time your portfolio will become highly diversified.

This will limit your potential for catastrophic loss

AND put you in a position where you own lots of alt-coins which may one day breakout and make you “instantly” rich after you held them for however many years.

Strategy 3: Day trading

Just like it sounds, this involves frequent trading in and out of various alt-coins. People who do this are usually skilled in the dark art of Technical Analysis. It doesn’t take a huge effort to learn how, but boy can you lose your shirt fast if you don’t know what you’re doing. You can combine this with Strategy 2 to provide a short term and long term combined strategy.

Strategy 4: Masternode investing/speculating

Dash was the first coin to implement masternodes. These are computers that hold a large number of coin (1000 in Dash’s case) and are used to verify and speed transactions. In return, masternodes receive “interest” in the form of new coins. As of this writing, a Dash masternode receives about 200 new Dash each year, representing a 20% annual return on the initial investment.

Sounds like an awesome deal right? Plus if the price of Dash rises, the value of both your masternode and its interest rises. Unfortunately, at the current price of Dash, a masternode will set you back a cool million dollars. If you had bought your masternode just 12 months earlier, it would only have cost you $12,000.

This is the closest to true value investing (IMO) because you get an income as well as a speculative assest (even if you’re being paid in said speculative asset).

So the key is to look for solid up and coming coins that have the potential to go up in value. Good luck.

As a more speculative play, you can look for brand new coins that often pay out more than a 1000% interest. These will pay back the original cost of the coins within 15-40 days. So if the price can hold out for one month, you’ll have your initial investment back plus a masternode in that coin. Keep it or cash out and repeat.

Do this strategy over and over with various new coins. After 1 year of this, you’ll have 6-10 masternodes providing an interest return in that many new coins. Now if just one of them doubles or quintuples in value…. well, you get the idea.

Personally this is my favorite strategy. It does take a little server administration know how to set up a masternode, but you can learn it or outsource it fairly easily.

Warning!! Danger Will Robinson!!!

NEVER NEVER NEVER put your coin in a wallet on the masternode. Never give anyone the private keys to your wallet. Your wallet should reside on your own computer, and the masternode just references the wallet. People have been scammed out of their coin by people they hired to set up their masternode. Don’t fall prey to it.

Bonus: How to evaluate a cryptocurrency

No matter which strategy you adopt, you need to be able to analyze a potential alt-coin investment. Here is a handy checklist that you can use to evaluate the worthiness of a potential investment/speculation.

What are the coins fundamentals?

What problem is coin or project trying to solve? How is their approach different?

Does the project have a compelling story?

Who is on the team? A 30 person team with experience is more credible than a project of 2 people with no experience.

Who is the leader of the team.

What partnerships does the project have in place? It’s one thing to claim a future benefit to…someone. It’s another thing to have a client signed up in advance.

What is the community response to the project?

How much capital is backing the project? Technology is wonderful but without capital to back it up, there’s no there there.

Are there any anticipated events (such as the CEO being featured on a cable news show)?

Technical aspects

What exchanges is the coin listed on? This can dramatically affect the ability of the someone to acquire the coin.

What is the volume of trading? Be very very wary of purchasing coins with low volume. You might not be able to sell it at any price.

It’s practically impossible to ignore Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency lately with the media touting as the largest bubble in the history of the world…even bigger than tulip mania!!! But finding hard facts can be difficult. When you look on Facebook, Youtube, and Google, it seems that 90% of the content is trying to sell you on some kind of get rich quick scheme.

So this little (okay probably not so little) article distills the basics right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand.

So what exactly is a Bitcoin?

At its core, Bitcoin is a distributed ledger system. Thousands of computers all over the world keep a copy of the ledger, which makes it extremely difficult to counterfeit. This distributed ledger system technology is known as the Blockchain. “Owning Bitcoin” is basically owning the ledger entry. In order to record new transactions into the ledger, computers have to solve very difficult math problems.; this is called mining.

As their reward miners get a small percentage of transactions. Addionally mining will occasionally result in a new Bitcoin being discovered. The math is set up in such as way that the problems become progressively harder so that there will be that there will only be 21 million bitcoin ever created/discovered. Early on, it was relatively easy to mine them, and individual miners could mine multiple bitcoin. Now the math is so complicated that most mining is done in “pools” with multiple miners sharing the resulting Bitcoin.

21 million doesn’t seem like it’s enough.

Luckily Bitcoin is fractional, which means that you can own as little as 0.00000001 Bitcoin. (Just like you can own one dollar, or 0.01 dollars (aka a penny).

Where does Bitcoin get its value?

Like all economic questions, the answer is both simple and complicated. I’ll keep this short and dedicate an entire article to it later. The simple answer is supply and demand. As seen above, there’s a limited supply. So where does the demand come from? Well, Bitcoin is useful for keeping track of who owns it, and it can’t be artificially inflated like a traditional government-issued fiat currency (dollars, Pesos, Cruzeiros). Bitcoin set out to be a better and more secure currency than traditional government-issued money.

If you think about your bank account and credit cards, dollars for the most part today are just computer entries of who owns them or who owes them. The problem is that nothing prevents the government or Federal Reserve from just creating additional electronic entries out of thin air. In fact, this is how the banks were bailed out in the 2008 Financial Crisis. Let’s hear it right from the head of Federal Reserve (at the time) Ben Bernanke:

The U.S. dollar has lost 95% of its purchasing power over the last hundred years due to money creation by the government, and it’s considered a bastion of stability compared to the Thai Baht, Mexican Peso, Argentine Peso, Brazsilan Cruzeiro…uh Cruzado…uh New Cruzeiro…uh…Real. You see the point. The demand isn’t just from Americans; the demand is international, partly as a hedge against inflation, and partly as a way to get your money across borders. Bitcoin can be sent anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes.

But isn’t Bitcoin a bubble?

Yes and no. The spike in demand is creating interest that in turn fuels additional demand as speculation. But there are so few bitcoin in the world compared to the number of people who may want them, that it’s hard to say what will happen in the long term. My best guess is that Bitcoin has a long way to go up before it comes down. There will be dips and corrections along the way to be sure, but unless Bitcoin is hacked (unlikely given its nature and track record) or the development team does something really stupid, chances are good that it will remain a valuable commodity for a while. There are some issues with Bitcoin that may limit its ability to be used for every day transactions (see below), but I think that it will still be used for larger transactions and wealth transfers.

Ultimately, the “bubble” exposure is good for Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies as the news coverage exposes people to them (and impells me to write articles like this). The more people know about it and own it, the more likely people are to begin using them for transactions, which will turn stabilize the pricing and preventing a future crash.

So what’s a Cryptocurrency?

Let’s sum up first. Bitcoins are ownership of ledger entries in a distributed blockchain. The process of discovering new ledger blocks and verifying new entries for existing blocks is called mining and based on solving complicated math problems. So…those really hard math problems? They’re based on codebreaking, aka Cyrptography.

Bitcoin was the first “currency” to use blockchain technology. There have been several others that are based directly off Bitcoin or developed their own similar (but different) approaches. Collectively these are call Cryptocurrency. Because it’s the oldest and most well-known, it’s become the de facto standard, and all the others are called alt-coins.

Some of the alt-coins are just competitors to Bitcoin that seek to eventually become the most used by addressing problems that bitcoin has. Others just hope for a piece of the action. And some are trying to do something completely different such as become a way to track real estate deeds or educational transcripts or which websites are most trusted.

Some of the most popular alt-coins include:

Litecoin: is essentially bitcoin 2.0. It was designed to be a faster, cheaper Bitcoin. It’s probably technologically superior in every way. It currently serves as a testing ground for Bitcoin development. The Bitcoin developers can see how a proposed solution to a problem plays out in the real world before deciding whether to incorporate it into Bitcoin.

Ethereum is actually a blockchain development platform. It’s main purpose is to serve as a base for potential applications of blockchain to do interesting things.

Dash is designed to be a cheap, fast, and anonymous (if desired) currency for making transactions. The Dash team is heavily marketing themselves. They’ve been targeting the medical marijuana community, since many banks will not do business with them.

Zcash is supposed to be a cheap, fast alternative to Bitcoin.

Monero emphasizes complete anonymity.

You keep saying cheaper and faster. What do you mean by that?

Remember that miners get a fee for verifying transactions (new ledger entries). In Bitcoin, new entries are recorded every ten minutes. To be confirmed, you need at least two separate blocks to show your entry (to prevent double spending of the same Bitcoin). This means that it takes about 20 minutes to get confirmation of a transaction. That doesn’t really work for instant transactions like paying for a cup of coffee, but it’s a heck of a lot better than waiting three hours for a wire transfer or 3-5 days for an electronic funds transfer (EFT).

Furthermore, each block can only record so much information, which means that your transaction may not be recorded in the next block at all. To ensure faster processing, you can offer a larger mining fee. Alt-coins that want to be cheaper and faster have different ways of addressing these two big problems with Bitcoin.

Many people predict that as a result of these issues, eventually Bitcoin will become used as a store of larger wealth, while another alt-coin will be used more for daily transactions.

Stick a fork in it.

When a proposed change to Bitcoin or another Alt-coin is disputed, sometimes the coin will fork. This means that it becomes two separate coins with two separate block chains. As an example, recently there was a dispute over the way to solve some of the issues listed above. So some of the Bitcoin developers forked the Bitcoin project, and called their new coin Bitcoin Cash. When this type of fork happens, if you own some bitcoin, you end up owning your original Bitcoin and the new coin too, so don’t fear the fork.

Okay, so how do I get my mitts on some Bitcoin?

There are essentially three (and a half) ways to obtain Bitcoin. (These will apply to pretty much all of the alt-coins to some degree).

The first is to mine it as described above. (The half is to mine another cryptocurrency and then exchange it for Bitcoin). I have a tutorial on how to get started mining the easy way, so if this interests you, then click here for the tutorial.

The second is to take Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrency) as payment for goods and services. This is actually remarkably easy. Bitcoin is probably best used for someone you know and trust, because of the speed of transaction issue. Another coin that is faster would probably be better for a one-off transaction like buying something off Craigslist. It’s as simple as having a QR code that the person paying scans, enters the amount, and presses send. Even easier than Venmo. Use Google to find local groups. For example, in West Palm Beach, there are number of Bitcon Meetups.

The third way to obtain Bitcoin is to buy it with dollars. The easiest way to do this is with Coinbase. Coinbase is criticized in the Cryptocurrency community (sometimes unfairly, see below), but it’s still the easiest on-ramp to Cryptocurrencies. You sign up for an account, and then you can buy Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Ethereum with either a credit card or electronic fund transfer from your bank. Once you own some coin, transfer it to your own wallet (see below).

Tell me what’s wrong with Coinbase?

The unfair complaints have to do with privacy as Coinbase complies with IRS regulations that govern financial institutions. That’s what allows them to take dollars in the first place.

Other complaints include that it’s relatively slow and the fees are higher than other services. This is somewhat true, but it’s still the easiest way to acquire some Bitcoin.

Finally, the Bitcoins held in Coinbase are not actually held by you. They are held by Coinbase on your behalf. So if something happens to Coinbase, it’s possible that someone could abscond with your bitcoin, but it’s certainly no less secure than Equifax or Target.

One last complaint is that their website “keeps breaking.” This is primarily due to the overwhelming increase in demand in recent days. They are working to try and resolve these issues as quickly as they can.

Recommendations for dealing with Coinbase (and pretty much any online exchange)

What’s this about a wallet?

Bitcoin is “owned” by being recorded to a particular Bitcoin address (series of letters and numbers). A Bitcoin wallet generates an address (or multiple addresses) and calculates how much bitcoin is recorded to each address to generate a spendable balance. When you pay someone, your wallet authorizes the transaction.

The magic is contained in a pair of keys, called public and private keys. The private key verifies that the transaction is being generated by the rightful owner of the address. As such, you need to guard your keys. If someone has access to them, they have access to your bitcoin. If you lose them, then you lose your bitcoin!!!

I can lose my Bitcoin? This doesn’t sound very secure.

Well, it’s certainly not idiot proof. But it’s not all that insecure as long as you’re careful. Your wallet will generate a seed, a code or series of words that can be used to regenerate the private key. For the love of God, protect this code. That way, if you lose your phone, or someone throws you in the pool, the bitcoin stored in your phone’s wallet won’t be lost.

One other thing to be aware of is that if you’re dealing with multiple currencies, don’t send the wrong currency to the wrong. For example, if you send litecoin to a bitcoin address, there’s a good chance that they’ll be lost, possibly forever.

Wallet Practices

Choose a secure wallet, such as an offline wallet to store the majority of your Bitcoin. Then transfer a little bit to an online wallet (whether your phone or computer) for walking around money. If you practice this protocol, if you do ever lose your online wallet or have your computer hacked, you might lose the small amount stored there, but you won’t lose your savings.

The most secure wallets are called hardware wallets. They are typically a USB device that runs the wallet software and authorizes transactions. Since the private key is stored in the device, when it’s unplugged there is no chance that anyone can electronically still your Bitcoin. Make sure you configure a passphrase for the hardware wallet to prevent someone who finds your hardware wallet after if fell out of your wallet from taking your bitcoin. Keep the seed separate from the. The Ledger Nano S seems to be the most popular hardware wallet at this time. The Trezor is never in stock and is a bit more expensive. The Keepkey is another alternative.

You don’t need a hardware wallet, so don’t let that stop you from getting started. You can also create a paper wallet for free.

You need a wallet for each currency you want to own.

Some wallets are called Multi-Wallets because they can handle multiple crytpocurrencies. Others are specific to a single type of coin. Before you buy a hardware wallet, make sure that it can handle the currencies you want to use.

Two popular software multi-wallets are Jaxx and Exodus. Jaxx can be used on your phone and computer. There are some security concerns with the way that it stores your private key, so don’t go doing stupid things like getting a virus, and see Wallet Practices above. One of the nice things about the Jaxx wallet is that it integrates Shapeshift, which is an exchange for Cryptocurrencies. So say, you have Litecoin in your wallet, but the person you’re buying from wants Dash. The Jaxx wallet can convert it for you via Shapeshift, and then send the Dash. Exodus also integrates with Shapeshift, but is not available for phone and tablets.

Bottom line: Take Action Now

I’ve know about Bitcoin for at least 7 years. I kept thinking, you know, I should figure this stuff out and buy some…maybe $500. If I had done that back in 2010 or 2011, or 2012, I’d be a millionaire. If I had even done it in early 2017, my $500 would now be worth about $8000. It was the inertia and learning curve that did me in.

I don’t know what the future holds specifically, but I can tell you that blockchain technology is going to revolutionize the way we do business and make purchases. Chances are very good that Bitcoin will continue to rise in value along with some other alt-coins.

It’s not too late. There’s still a lot of up Bitcoin before there’s a down. But don’t be stupid. Start small. Learn how it works. Become familiar with the issues. Then you’ll be prepared for what comes.

Go out to lunch with a friend. Have them pay in dollars and you pay them in Bitcoin.

Use Google to find other local people who use Bitcoin.

Once you’ve done these things, now you’re ready to snatch the rock from my hand and go out into the world. In my next article I’ll lay out some investment and speculation strategies as well as share some resources for learning more.

In the wake of the recent run-up in Bitcoin, and then LiteCoin, and then Ethereum, you may be thinking, “Well I’d like to get involved in this, but I can’t afford that.” So then you learn that you can “mine” for cryptocurrencies, but it all seems ridiculously complicated.

Well, it turns out there’s a ridiculously easy way to get started mining.

Enter Minergate

Minergate is a mining pool, which means that when you join it, any computers that you use to mine with them get added to a group of other computers, and you each get a reward proportional to your computing power. They’re not necessarily the “best” mining pool, but they are the easiest to get started with, and done is better than best.

I’ve created a short video. You can be up in mining within about three minutes. Written Instructions are shown below the video. If you found this guide helpful, consider using my link to sign up for Minergate. I’ll get a small commission at no cost to you.

Configuring Minergate

By default, Minergate will try to mine whatever coin it thinks was most profitable in the last hour and supposedly switches to keep you profitable. Some things to consider.

Core Decisions

You can choose the number of cores to mine with. Most computer processors these days are “multi core” which means that the processor is made up of multiple processors.

There is a dropdown that allows you to choose the number of cores to use. The more cores, generally the faster you can mine, but also the more heat you generate and quicker you may wear out your processor.

Some people report that using one or two cores fewer than the maximum number sometimes results in a higher hash rate (indicator of mining progress), so you may want to experiment a bit.

CPU vs GPU Mining

Bitcoin and most of the alt-coins are mined more efficiently with graphics processors (GPU) than with the central computer processor (CPU). However, a few -coins, such as Monero (XMR) and Aeon were designed specifically to be mined with a CPU. This means that if you’re on a laptop (or cheap desktop), chances are good you should stick to Monero and Aeon. If you have a gaming computer, chances are good that you have a GPU and should use it to mine a different -coin, such as Zcash.

There are so many coins, AAAGGGHHHHH

Don’t freak out. You don’t have to become a crypto-savant to do this. Just choose automatic mode, and Minergate, and you’ll be mining. But if you want to take things to the next level, you can learn more about the different types of crypto-currencies. At the time of this writing, the best bests are: 1) CPU mining…either Monero or Aeon. 2) GPU mining…Zcash.

Okay I’m mining; how do I get paid?

Look in your Minergate dashboard on the website, and you’ll see something that looks like this:

Minergate dashboard

This is your overall account balance. You can choose to see its value in Bitcoin, US Dollars, or Euros.

This is the total value of what you have mined in your account (not sure the exact time frame). Same denomination choices.

This is the amount of whichever coin you’re looking at that you have mined and its value in Bitcoin, USD, or Euros. Note that this amount of coin is yours but it’s being held in Minergate’s wallet, not yours at this moment in time. You can use the buttons next to this number to change your mined coin into another currency. For example, if you’re mining Aeon, you can use Changely to exchange your Aeon into Bitcoin or Litecoin.

This is the total number amount that you have mined and how much of it has been confirmed. Confirmations can take a few minutes to several days depending on how fast your machine is and other factors. It’s not really yours until it’s confirmed.

This is a choice you have in terms of fees. It takes longer to confirm the PPLNS but there’s a lower fee. If you’re going to be mining for a long period of time, you’re probably better off leaving it as PPLNS.

These buttons can be used to move the dashboard of the coins you’re mining upward or lower for your viewing convenience. Put the coins you’re mining at the top.

As noted in Number 3, the mined coin is being held for you in Minergate’s wallet. To truly make it yours, you need to transfer it to your wallet. Click the Withdraw button to transfer the coin to your private wallet. (Note: you have to have a wallet for that currency to use this option. Otherwise, use Changely to exchange your mined coin for a currency for which you do have a wallet.

Here’s a video explaining some of the more advanced options and how to get your money out.

That’s it for the moment. There’s more to learn though. It’s reported that the GUI miner is not as efficient as the command line (console) miner, so in a future post, I’ll walk you through setting up a console miner.

Congratulations gentle reader. You have just taken the most important step of your life. You’ve admitted that you’re a pathetic weakling and want to get stronger. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

What’s your goal?

Ultimately, the kind of training you do should be somewhat determined by your goal. And yet, strength is a generalized adaptation, so on the other hand, when you’re first starting out your strength program is going to be fairly general. Wrap your head around that for a moment.

That didn’t make any sense. Can you try again?

Okay. building a general base of strength will help in just about any endeavor that you do, whether it’s looking better, competing in strength sports, staying out of a nursing home (muscle loss is the number one cause of disability among the elderly), or performing better at a sport.

Use Compound Movements

Generally speaking, strength is going to be built best with compound movements. These are movements that involve more than one joint. Working multiple joints at the same time provides a number of benefits.

It takes less time. Now there are some people who simply love the gym and want to spend all day there. I’m going to assume that you actually have other things to do in your life and would like to minimize your time in the gym. Compound movements help you do this. because one movement will cover several different muscles and joints.

It works the body as a system by allowing muscles to function as they naturally want to.

It allows more muscle to be worked

Keep it simple stupid

As a novice you need a novice program. I mean, you can use an intermediate or advanced program, but you’re not going to get as much out of it. If you’ve ever driven a stick shift, you can start in 3rd gear, but it’s a lot easier and faster to start in 1st gear. So what makes a novice program?

Full body.

Increase the weight each workout

3-4 workouts per week. No more.

As a novice, you can recover from stress of lifting weights within about 2 days, so you want work out about that often, but not more. You don’t get strong by lifting heavy weights. You get strong by recovering from lifting heavy weights.

As a novice, you can increase the weight on the bar every workout, so a novice program should take advantage of this by designing it in. It’s not complicated. Choose a weight. Lift it for the prescribed number of sets and reps. Next time, add 5 pounds and repeat. When you can’t go up 5 pounds, go up by 2.5 pounds.

It’s simple to be a novice. A novice program should be simple. Don’t complicate it.

So where should I start? How about Starting Strength?

I like the Starting Strength model and recommend it. But you need to understand it. It’s a novice program, and will only last you 3-6 months. It’s not meant to be done forever. It’s designed to be simple and provide a foundation of strength.

At its most basic, it starts out with four lifts on a two day split routine that looks like this:

Week: Monday Wednesday Friday

1: 1 2 1

2: 2 1 2

Phase 1: 2-4 weeks

Workout 1:

Squat 3x5

Overhead Press 3x5

Deadlift 1x5

Workout 2:

Squat 3x5

Bench Press 3x5

Deadlift 1x5

Optional:

You can add in chinups at the end of workout 2 if you like.

You can also add some barbell or dumbbell curls if you really want to.

So what weight should I start at?

Start with a lightweight. Probably just the bar. Do a set of five.

If it’s easy, add 10 pounds, and do another set of five.

Repeat step 2 until a set feels mildly challenging. (This might be step 1 for some people.)

The weight that felt challenging will be your starting weight. Do two more sets with that same weight.

Log the weight in a notebook. Next workout, you’ll add 5-10 pounds.

Phase 2: Once you’re comfortable with Deadlifts

Now, you add in power cleans in place of deadlifts on Workout 1.

Workout 1:

Squat 3x5

Overhead Press 3x5

Power Clean 5x3

Workout 2:

Squat 3x5

Bench Press 3x5

Deadlift 1x5

Phase 3: When it gets hard to recover from deadlifts

It’ll take you several months to get to this point, so I’m not going to describe it. By this time, hopefully you’ve bought the Starting Strength book, maybe joined their forum, and read enough on their website to know what to do.

How do I do these exercises?

I’m going to provide several videos for each lift below. You don’t have to watch them all. Generally speaking, watch the first one. Try it yourself. Take a video of yourself and compare your form to it. If you want or need more detail, then watch the others.

Squats

These are the foundation of the program, and the most functional of all the movements. More than any other lift, this one will keep you out of a nursing home.

Starting Strength recommends and prefers what are commonly referred to as “low bar” squats. The videos below teach their method. You don’t have to use low bar if you don’t want to. High bar squats will work just fine.

For years Alan Thrall preached “whatever works for you squats,” but when he plateaued and started using the Starting Strength style squats, he started progressing again. Here he teaches what he learned.

Here, Alan Thrall’s Coach describes three common mistakes.

Here we have Starting Strength Founder, Mark Rippetoe teaching his squat method. This is a playlist.

Overhead Press, AKA The Press

Playlist of Mark Rippetoe teaching the Overhead Press

Alan Thrall explaining how to set up for the Press

Deadlift

Alan Thrall teaching the 5 steps to a good deadlift. Similar to his squat, Alan had stopped progressing until he changed his technique.

Common Deadlift Errors:

And Mark Rippetoe teaching the Deadlift.

We’re half way THERE!!!

Okay, at this point you should be done with your first workout. If you wait three minutes between sets and take one minute for each set, it should have taken you about half an hour. So now enjoy a little Bon Jovi before you learn the next lift for Workout 2.

Benchpress

Power Clean

The power clean is the most technical of the lifts that you’ll do in the Starting Strength program. You shouldn’t try to learn this lift until you have a a fairly clean deadlift. So somewhere between Week 2 and 4.

That’s a lot of videos! Anything else I should know?

How about diet?

Good question. Generally speaking you should be eating a fairly high protein diet. A good rule of thumb is 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. If you’re very obese, you could go a bit lower. If you’re very thin, you might want to go a little higher.

You’re going to get the most out of Starting Strength if you’re in a caloric surplus. Building muscle is an anabolic process. Losing fat is a catabolic process. Your body doesn’t like to do both at the same time. (You can for a limited time if you’re starting out obese.)

When talking to skinny young men, the founder Mark Rippetoe’s advice is to eat 4500-5000 calories a day for the first month or two and don’t worry about getting fat. Once you’re strong, it will be easy to lose the extra weight. If I were younger, I’d follow this advice myself. But since I’m an old man, I make do with a small caloric surplus of about 300-500 calories per day. (You can estimate your maintenance as 15 x your bodweight in pounds. If you’re inactive, then use 14 x bodyweight.)

If you’re obese, then you’ll want to eat in a mild deficit at first, so maybe 12 x your bodyweight. If you’re very obese you could be more aggressive and eat 10 x bodyweight.

No matter which strategy you choose, understand that adequate nutrition plays a huge part in getting stronger, and reducing calories is going to reduce your strength. While you’re in the novice phase, don’t be too strict. Once you’ve gotten strong, then you can can reduce calories and get lean.

What about fat and carbs. You can go however you like here, however, higher in carbs, and moderate in fat tends to do better for most non-obese people.

What should I eat? The vast majority of your food should come from “whole” sources. If you don’t know what that means, then try Dr Jordan Feigenbaum’s advice and only eat foods that have one ingredient. I have a number of recipes on my website of foods that have helped me on my own fitness journey.

You should have some desserts or other treats that you enjoy every day. If you don’t, then you’re more likely to binge and go off diet altogether. My three secrets to not going overboard with treats are:

Log it before you eat it.

Weigh out your serving

Put the container away.

Leave the kitchen before you eat it.

This will make you less likely to have “just a little more” or go back for seconds and thirds, and fourths.

Is this going to make me big? I don’t want to be big.

Only if you eat in a large surplus. Now, the plan is to gain both muscle and fat during the initial novice phase, and then to lose the fat afterward. You’ll look a bit fluffy during this process, but it’s temporary.

If you’re worried about looking like this, that takes drugs.

Now, if you’re a woman, there are some extra things to be aware of.

As part of the adaptation process, your muscles are going to be a bit fuller temporarily. Stick with it, it will go away.

Your weight will fluctuate over the course of your menstrual cycle. You simply cannot compare your weight or your measurements from week to week. What you need to do is compare them to the same week the cycle before.

This is so exciting. Are there any fitness channels that you like?

This is a tough one. Most of the Youtube fitness channels are junk. Here are are few that I like that won’t lead you too far astray:

Starting Strength: Heck this whole article is about Starting Strength, so I guess I should recommend the Youtube channel. Mark Rippetoe (“Rip”) is quite the character. The channel has a bit of everything.

Barbell Medicine. Two Starting Strength who are also doctors run the website BarbellMedicine.com and have a podcast by the same name. Dr Feigenbaum’s youtube channel is their outlet. They are also active on Instagram. I really enjoy their take on things.

Alan Thrall: You’ve seen some of his videos above. Alan has a gym called Untamed Strength and recently became a Starting Strength coach. He now offers online coaching through Barbell Medicine.

Omar Isuf is a Canadian who just got into lifting. He’s quite the character, and his channel reflects his growth over the years that he’s been lifting. He likes to have lots of guests from the lifting world.

Should I get a personal trainer?

No. Most of the personal trainers, especially the ones that work at commercial gyms (Planet Fitness, LA Fitness, 24 hour Fitness, etc.) are garbage. You’re lucky if their advice doesn’t actually harm you. It would be a good idea to get a coach, preferably someone who is familiar with the Starting Strength model and performs the basic compound lifts themselves. If you can’t find anyone local, you can get online coaching at both Starting Strength and Barbell Medicine.

And finally, if all else fails, you can post your questions and even videos of your form on the Starting Strength forums and get answers for free.

The lifts are not all that terribly difficult, and you’re going to start with fairly light weights and slowly increase the weight over time, so don’t freak out. You’ve got plenty of time to fix your form and get better at it. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing wrong. Because who’s naturally good at everything the first time?

Congratulations. You’ve decided to start lifting weights. But you’re not sure where to start, so you start searching the internet and youtube for guidance, and suddenly, you’re overwhelmed with terms that don’t seem to make any sense. You go to a gym and try to join in a conversation but people look at you weird because you’re using the words incorrectly.

This article should help clear up some of the confusion and help prevent some embarrassing moments while you transition from novice to expert.

Weightlifting, Weight Training, Lifting Weights, and more

Weightlifting technically always refers to Olympic Weightlifting. This is an officially recognized Olympic sport. It is very very specific. The two main components are the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. (Described later under Specific Exercises.) To avoid confusion, don’t say you’re weightlifting unless you’re doing olympic lifts. Sometimes abbreviated “oly” or “oly lifting”

Lifting weights on the other hand means any activity in which weights are being used.

Weight training is sometimes used interchangeably with lifting weights, although the term implies using the weights as part of a systematic plan to achieve a particular goal.

Powerlifting is a sport in which people compete in three different lifts. They do a single squat, bench press, and deadlift. You add the maximum weight for each lift together, and the highest total wins. It’s slightly more complicated, with weight classes, but that’s the general idea.

Strongman refers to a sport with a number very specific feats of strength including picking an Atlas stone (large round rock), giant tire flipping, and picking a log up off the ground and lifting it overhead. Strongman lifts are more awkward than Olympic lifts and Powerlifts.

Bodybuilding specifically refers to using weights for the purpose of winning bodybuilding competitions (or achieve a look that could). Bodybuilding is primarily concerned with size and shape of muscle. At the highest levels, bodybuilding depends on having the right genetics for symmetry and proportion. There are several different “levels” within bodybuilding. Traditional bodybuilding (think Arnold Schwarzenegger or Lou Ferrigno for us old people) is called Classic or Classic Physique. The newer class is “physique” where guys are typically smaller and wear board shorts instead of “posing shorts” (think Speedos).

Female bodybuilding has three levels, Physique (similar to men’s classic and is dominated by steroids), figure, and bikini. Bikini is the least muscled of the levels. There is also fitness which is kind of like figure but with some sort of athletic routine (usually gymnastic or dancing).

Aesthetics refers to training for looking good (which of course is subjective). The most popular male role model of aesthetics ever seems to be Brad Pitt’s character from Fight Club. Note that looking good with clothes on is not necessarily the same as looking good in clothes. Bigger typically looks better in clothes (for men anyway), while leaner typically looks better with no shirt.

Strength training refers to training to maximize strength. It could be for its own sake or for in the pursuit of a strength sport (Olympic Weightlifting, Strongman, Powerlifting, or other smaller specialty strength endeavors).

Training Terminology

Split refers to the number of workouts in a cycle, with most cycles taking a week. Each unique workout is usually assigned a letter (A,B,C, etc.) So a 3 day split generally refers to working out 3 days a week. For example Workout A on Monday, Workout B on Wednesday, and Workout C on Friday. A 2 day split has 2 workouts that alternate, you might do Workout A on Monday, Workout B on Wednesday, and then Workout A again on Friday. The next week, you would start with Workout B and repeat the pattern. A five day split has five different workouts. You get the idea.

Other Common Splits: Bro Split refers to a 5 or 6 day split, where each body part has its own workout. PPL (push/pull/legs) refers to a three day split where one day is “push,” another day “pull”, and a third day “legs”.

Rep (repetition) refers to one complete movement of an exercise. So in a squat, squatting down and standing back up is one complete rep.

A set is a number of repetitions done together. So 5 reps done in a row would be considered one set of 5 reps.

3×5, 5×5, 3×10… are shorthand ways of describing set and reps. The first number is the number of sets. The second number is the number of reps in each set. So 3×5 means three sets of five reps each. 3×10 means three sets of 10 reps each.

Rep Max, Max Rep, RM all refer to a set where a person cannot do another set. So a set of five reps where the lifter can’t do a sixth rep is called a 5RM.

Intensity refers to the weight on the bar combined with the effort it takes to lift it. High intensity typically means heavier weight, and therefore lower rep sets. So a 3RM set would be more intense than a 5RM set. Intensity is often calculated as a percentage of a person’s 5RM or 1RM. Alternatively, intensity can be measured subjectively using a scale known as Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) (see below). One thing to be careful about is that intensity in the exercise physiology research literature does not refer to this definition, and instead refers to taking a set to failure. Under this definition, taking a light weight to failure at 25 reps is just as intense as taking a very heavy weight to failure in 3 reps. It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world except for Lola!

Progression means increasing the weight over time. The rate of progression is limited by a person’s training age, which is not measured in time but by getting stronger. The terms Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced are generally used to describe training age.

Novices (or newbies) have the fasted progression because they’re starting from basically zero. Almost anything they do is going to make them stronger, which is why 12 week beginner’s programs never lack for testimonials. Some people like to use strength standards to gauge a person’s training age, but the best gauge is usually how often a person can increase the weight on the bar. If the answer is every workout, then the person is a novice.

Note that the novice stage can last anywhere from 3 to 9 months on a well designed program. Not eating enough or sleeping enough or running too intense a training program, and being older can decrease the length of the novice phase. Alternatively using a poorly designed program can result in a person never exiting the novice stage. The vast majority of gym goers are novices no matter how long they’ve been training.

Intermediate lifters can no longer increase the weight on the bar every training session. Intermediate programs are usually designed to allow the lifter to make weekly progress, and as a result are more complicated. Before a person progresses to an intermediate program, they should ask “The First Three Questions.”

Am I trying to take too big a jump in weights. A rank novice may be able to go up 10lbs each workout where a more experienced novice can only go up 2.5lbs each workout.

Am I waiting long enough between sets? As the weight gets heavier, it takes longer to recover between sets. Metabolic fatigue can be a limiting factor with shorter recovery periods. A brand new lifter may be able to do their next set after just 1 minute, while a more advanced lifter may need 3-5 minutes between sets.

Am I getting enough calories and sleep? One does not get strong by lifting heavy weights. One gets strong by recovering from lifting heavy weights. Not providing your body with enough calories and sleep will impair your ability to get stronger.

Advanced lifters can no longer progress each week, and now the time frame extends to a month (or longer) and the program becomes even more complicated.

Gains is slang for increasing performance in the gym. It generally refers to increasing the weight on the bar or increasing the number of reps with the same weight, but the term is quite nonspecific and can even refer to looking better.

Frequency can refer to either the number of workouts in a week or to the number of times a particular lift is executed, or to the number of times a particular muscle group is worked. Confusing right? Get used to disappointment.

Volume is another amorphous term that can be used to mean several different things. The definition I prefer is the total number of reps in a given time frame (workout session or week). So in a 3×5 workout, you would be doing 15 total reps for that lift. In a 5×5, you’d be doing 25 total reps in the workout for that lift. A competing (although inferior) definition of volume simply the number of sets. This treats a set of one rep the same a set of 10. A third definition of volume is the total number of reps times the weight lifted, although this is better called tonnage (see below).

Tonnage refers to the total weight lifted. So if you benched 225 lbs for 3×5, you lifted 3x5x225 = 3375 lbs for the workout.

Work sets are juxtaposed with warm up sets. A work set is a set heavy enough to induce a growth stimulus. Warm up sets on the other hand are lighter in weight and their purpose is to get the blood flowing to the muscle warming it up and allowing the movement pattern to be practiced. A proper warm up should not fatigue the muscle. It should prepare the muscle.

Effective reps refers to the idea that in a given set, some of the reps are harder than others. Imagine lifting a light weight for 30 reps. The first ten to 15 reps might be easy. Those reps are not “effective,” because the muscle is not having to struggle. The heavier the weight, the higher the percentage of reps that will be effective.

Periodization refers to the planned change in a training variable to promote progression. Intensity, volume, and frequency are the main variables that can be manipulated. The simplest periodization is called linear progression, where only intensity if varied–you add a small amount of weight to the bar every session. It’s not truly linear because the amount of weight added gets smaller over time. You might start out adding 10 pounds each session, and then after a few weeks only 5, and then eventually 2.5. So it’s more of a logarithmic progression, but I don’t foresee that catching on anytime soon.

Naturally linear periodization can’t go on forever of eventually everyone would be as strong as Superman. Eventually Other forms of periodization must be used if a trainee wants to continue to make progress, so frequency and volume may also be changed. Buzzwords you may hear include daily undulating, weekly undulating, and block periodization. Novices don’t need any fancy shmancy periodization and should just stick to linear until they can’t any more.

Concentric contraction occurs when a muscle shortens. For example, lifting a weight overhead, pulling a weight off the floor, or standing up.

Eccentric contraction occurs when the muscle lengthens. For example, lowering a weight or sitting down. Many exercises have both a concentric and eccentric portion; for example, in a squat, you first squat down (eccentric) and then stand up (concentric). The eccentric portion of a movement is sometimes called the negative.

DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) refers to soreness that comes on within 12 to 48 hours of performing an exercise. DOMS is more associated with the eccentric portion of a lift. It is also associated with using a new movement pattern. This is why people are always sore on “muscle confusion” programs like P90X. You’re always doing something new so you’re always sore. DOMS is NOT associated with getting stronger.

Miscellaneous

Bro is short for brother and can use in almost any situation. It is often used in place of “dude.” For example, “There was this bro at the gym…” It can be used in place of “you” as in “Bro, try lifting this way.” It is often used in a slightly pejorative manner to refer to gym goers who may not be the most productive or adhere to outdated training opinions. These outdated opinions are derisively known as “Bro science” which gets passed from bro to bro in a telephone-like game until there is no semblance of actual science (or even common sense).

Swole is slang for swollen referring to a person’s muscles getting larger.

Natty refers to a natural, meaning someone who is not on performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Someone who is secretly on PEDs or suspected of being on PEDs is often referred to as a fake natty. “Half natty lighting” refers to using lighting, shadows, and angles to make a person appear better than real life. It is sometimes used the same ways as fake natty.

PEDs is short for performance enhancing drug.

Gear refers to any number of PEDs but usually includes testosterone.

Eat Clen and Tren Hard is a twisting of “eat clean and train hard” usually a cynical response to the question “How do I look like [insert name]?” that implies that the person in question is taking PEDs and to look like him, you probably need to take drugs too. See Clen and Tren below.

Clen is short for clenbuterol, a selective beta-2 agonist that enhances muscle contraction and mobilizes fatty acids aiding in weightloss. (It’s in the same drug class as albuterol so it can also help with asthma.) It was never approved in the U.S. for humans or animals raised for food; it is, however approved for use in horses as a bronchodilator..

Tren is short for trenbolone, the most potent testosterone analog that we currently have. (Potency refers to the amount of effect that a drug has per dose.)

Supp does not refer to a greeting. It is short for supplements. Supplements are generally anything that not is not a medication or drug. The line can be blurry. Many supplements are isolated chemicals such as creatine or L-carinitine. Others “natural” such as ma huang (not legal in the U.S.).

Creatine is the only supplement that has compelling human research to support its effectiveness. (That’s not to say nothing else works; but the evidence is not as strong.) The only version you should take is creatine monohydrate. Pretty much any brand will work. Take 5mg daily. You have to work out for it to work. Not everyone responds to it. As a side effect, it produces intramuscular water retention making muscles look fuller but also causing a small increase in weight (yes water weighs something).

This post has been a long time coming. It goes back to July, 2017 when I was feeling frustrated that I couldn’t seem to get back down to 165 pounds. I was just bouncing around between 172 and 178. So I decided to do something drastic and try Lyle McDonald’s Rapid Fat Loss Diet. (Note, based on my results I signed up to be an affiliate for the program, so if you click the link and buy the program, I’ll get a small cut.)

The remainder of this article is a log of my progress on the diet over 11 days. I originally posted this in a fitness related Facebook group, but I’ve had enough people ask me about it that I figured I’d put add it here. In another post, I’ll give a few more details about the program

Background

I’m still stuck at 174-176 lbs after several months, so I’ve decided to do a 2 week crash diet. In a nutshell, it’s very high protein, low fat, low carb. 200g protein, 6g fish oil, low carb veggies, and Halo Top half an hour before workouts. With this approach, I’m getting about 1200 calories a day. (Why did I do this in the middle of mango and cherry season? #terribletiming.) For the record this approach is called a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF) and is meant to be used very short term. I learned about this diet from Lyle McDonald’s Rapid Fat Loss Book. I just refer to it as crash, because that’s the term Lyle uses to refer to it. I’m currently 173 pounds.

Rapid Fat Loss Log

Day 1 Sunday

I’m 174.2 pounds. 33 inch waist.

Day 4 Wednesday

All right, end of Day 4 on the crazy diet (started on Sunday). So far, so good. I’m eating a ton of food, so not too hungry as long as I don’t go too long without eating. Averaging 195-210 grams of protein and 1150-1250 calories. (And that’s tracking even the Skinny Girl 10 calorie dressing and calories from salsa. Only thing I’m not tracking is the arugula and spring mix.)

Monday’s workout

Weighted chins 55×4, 45×6, 25×8

Squats 205x5x2

Today’s workout

Incline 180×4, 170×6

OHP 130×5, 120×7

Squats 205x5x2

The squats were really hard today, but to get done in time for work I was supersetting the warm ups with incline and the worksets with OHP. I also did the usual Greek God Program accessory lifts and abs both days.

I’m REALLY tired right now, but that’s mainly because I didn’t sleep much sleep last night because of kiddos wanting to sleep in my bed because of a thunderstorm.

Waist hasn’t budged at 33 inches.

All told, so far the main issue I have with this diet is I had to give up free lunch today, tomorrow, and Friday because I can’t get the free food to fit these macros.

I also made the mistake of trying cottage cheese. Pretty nasty stuff, especially when you can’t spare any calories to enhance the flavor. Guess I’ll have to stick with Greek Yogurt (basically the same macros).

Day 5 Thursday

Pretty much the same thing except no workout. I want to save the photos till it’s over, because it’s much more impressive without the intermediate photos ;-). But I can tell you that I now fit into my size 32 pants that I’ve been trying to get back into since October. This morning, I was 169.8 lbs!
Honestly I don’t feel bad. From reading people’s experience with this diet, I was expecting to feel like crap. Other than getting tired if I go too long without eating, I haven’t felt hungry or deprived (other than having to say no to free food at the office). Unless the suck comes on hard in the next few days, I might do a second round after a week or three at maintenance if my body dysmorphia says I need to drop more weight.

Question from the peanut gallery: Are you taking electrolytes?Answer: I always eat a lot of salt. I’m getting several servings of low fat cheese and/or nonfat Greek yogurt for calcium but am also supplementing with a Calcium/magnesium supplement. I’m not overtly supplementing with potassium, but I probably should.

Even with the Halo Top and tracking carbs from tomatoes and cucumbers, I was only at 59 carbs yesterday.This morning’s workout was

Weighted Chins: 55×5, 45×6, 25×9

Squats: 205 2×5 plus warm ups (those are beginning to suck)

Plus rest of Greek God Program Workout B

The hard part will be that today I HAVE to go to the cafeteria for new Freshman preview day, so there will be temptations galore. Their real food might not be the best, but they have some awesome desserts.

Day 8 Sunday # 2

So far so good. I didn’t get enough sleep last night because I stayed up too late, but other than being a bit tired today, I’m not having many issues. Slight calf cramp this morning when getting out of bed (only for half a second), so I upped my potassium intake from 500mg to 1000mg (top of recommended supplement range). I’ve had these same cramps when not on the

I had three bites of my son’s Piña Colada snowcone this afternoon, but because I’m a flexible dieter, I didn’t call myself a failure and binge afterward. Pretty sure, it only added 5-10 calories. (editorial note: this turned out to be a giant mistake, because he was sick at the time, and I ended up getting his sickness.)

I’m beginning to get used to eating like this. I think I might eat this way 1-2 times a week once the PSMF is over to allow for the extra calories on birthdays and summer cookouts. While I wouldn’t recommend the whole PSMF to the average dieter, it does seem like a good 1 day strategy.”

Question from the peanut gallery: What are you eating?Answer: General eating template:
Pre-workout because I’m working out in the morning (also functions as breakfast)
-1 cup (1/2 pint) of Halo Top
Lunch:
-1 pound of chicken breast (crockpot or grilled)
-Large salad with mixed greens, 100g of tomatoes, 2 persian cucumbers, no calorie or low calorie dressing (Walden Farms or Skinny Girl)
-28g no fat cheddar (might go on the chicken or might go on the salad.
Dinner
-Another salad with a different flavor dressing
-1 cup nonfat yogurt (optional)
-Protein to get up to 200g (london broil, turkey breast, chicken breast, 95% lean ground beef)

That gives me somewhere between 1150-1250 calories and 200g of protein.
I don’t feel deprived at all eating this way for one day, and it’s a ton of food. (Note, this is based on a 145 LBM (175lbs at ~15% BF.

Question from the Peanut Gallery: How did you handle work?Answer: There’s a refrigerator and microwave at work. I keep a bottle of chipotle Tabasco, salsa, and no calorie dressing there.

Day 12, End of Diet Recap

It’s day 12 off the PSMF. I had planned to stay on the diet through the end of today, but I have a free lunch at work, and a party at home tonight, so sacrifices must be made.

Weight: I started at 174, and today I was 167.4. At least 3-5 pounds of that is water and glycogen since a PSMF is ketogenic (glycogen depleting).

Waist: My waist went from 33 to 31.5″. I’m now wearing size 32 pants with extra room in the waist. Before the diet, I couldn’t fit into them comfortably.

Strength: I lost one rep on incline (but sometimes I lose a rep when eating normally), none on OHP, Squat, or Chins.

Feeling: For the most part, I felt great on the diet. I never felt hungry or deprived (except in the sense that I couldn’t eat the catered lunches at work). I forgot to take my magnesium supplement last night, and woke up with a leg cramp at 3am (although I’ve had similar cramps just on AFL). Other than that, I’ve had no negative experiences with the diet.

Conclusion:

Like I said in my last update, I’m not sure that I’d do this again, but I can certainly see eating like this one or two days a week to occasionally to maintain a deficit. As promised, here are the before and after photos. They’re kind of subtle, but I definitely have a lot more shoulder definition and slightly more ab definition. My wife says I look like an underwear model again.